


gone with the wind

by Omeganixtra



Series: Destiny Fictober 2019 [4]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Fictober 2019, Gen, Mention of Character Death, poor handling of grief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-12-09 02:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20987450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omeganixtra/pseuds/Omeganixtra
Summary: “You agreed to the Dare, Cayde-6,” Ikora says, softly. “And you lost. When you are done wallowing in your own pity you know where to find us.”





	gone with the wind

**Author's Note:**

> day 4: “I know you didn’t ask for this.”

Andal is gone.

It is… the only word that comes to Ikora’s mind is ‘surreal’ and even _that_ does not completely manage to put into words how _wrong_ that it all feels.

The vision of Andal’s ship, blown to Hell and back, colliding with one of the walls in the hangar and Cayde-6 stumbling out of the burning construct with Andal’s battered corpse in his arms, utterly hysterical, is still eerily fresh in her mind. She remembers how the world had seemed to shrink in on only Cayde-6, Andal’s body and herself, how everything around them in the hangar had simply ceased to exist, and the noise of disbelief that had made it out past her clenched teeth.

By the Light, all of them had taken this blow straight to the heart, Zavala and herself were no exceptions, but Cayde-6—the Exo had been part of Andal’s fireteam before the man had even opted to try and run for Hunter Vanguard, and who knows how long before then. All that Ikora truly knows about the Hunter is that he’s an Exo, has managed to attain somewhat of a gambling reputation within the Tower and that he was practically glued to Andal’s side whenever he was in the Tower for supplies, to turn in bounties or other such things.

She cannot recall ever seeing the two of them apart, honestly.

Traveler, how the poor man must feel.

But even so there are still responsibilities to fulfill and papers to sort through now that the details behind Andal’s Dare has been handed over to Zavala and herself.

Ikora finds him hidden in the hangars, hungover as fuck, with Andal’s cape huddled around him and too many empty booze bottles to count. Honestly, he looks more like a strange, dirty pile of blankets and Exo hobo than the Hunter Vanguard-to-be.

She sighs.

“Cayde-6?”

A grunt sounds from the pile and a small crevasse opens to reveal a blue eye amidst the dirt. He glances at her for a moment before he turns his back to her. “Fuck off.”

“I was told by Holliday to find you here. There are responsibilities to see to,” Ikora continues. “The position as Hunter Vanguard requi—"

Cayde’s eye peeks out once more below the cape. “Fuck. _Off_.”

She falls silent. Shifts her weight from one foot to the other as she simply keeps looking down at the pitiful Guardian on the floor in front of her. She is a Warlock. She can be nothing but patient.

“I know you didn’t ask for this,” Ikora starts and graciously ignores the snort that Cayde-6 gives her. “But this… this can’t be what Andal wou—”

_Thwip_

A Hunter’s knife is lodged in the beam inches to the right of her head, and Ikora immediately falls silent. In front of her the lump of blankets fall away to reveal Cayde. His expression is eerily blank, the first sign that something definitely is wrong here.

“A-Andal,” Cayde says, his voice low enough to warrant at least a sense of apprehension to run through Ikora. “My _brother_ is barely in the fucking ground, and all that you can think of is ‘responsibilities and think about what ‘he would have wanted’? Andal is not _here_ anymore, he doesn’t _want anything_, so you can fuck right off with your shit about responsibilities!”

He’s yelling by the end of his little tirade. Around the two of them workers, be they Guardians or contracted civilians, have all fallen silent as they watch the Warlock Vanguard with baited breath.

“Be that as it may, we cannot allow his death to break our defenses.”

Ikora knows that what she says is harsh, too soon perhaps to some, but the fact of the matter is that she is truthful.

They cannot allow Andal Brask’s death to tear the Tower and the Hunters to the ground, no matter how beloved and well-liked the man was. They need to move forward, to not look back at the carnage, and

“You agreed to the Dare, Cayde-6,” Ikora says, softly. “And you lost. When you are done wallowing in your own pity you know where to find us.”

And with that she leaves.

Ikora is a Warlock. She is patient. Calm. Collected.

But not even she can combat the throes of grief.


End file.
